A 24 Hour Bug
by Fifteen Minutes Old
Summary: A oneshot in which Alex gets sick and Gene has to look after her. GALEX. Rated T for a bit of language.


**Hi! This is my first ever attempt at Ashes to Ashes, so before I started writing a multi-chapter story I thought I would try this one-shot.**

**I'd say it's set after series 2 but it pretty much completely ignores series 3! There are no spoilers at all though. Just a bit of Galex fun (well...not for Alex!)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except an over active imagination and a lot of spare time.**

* * *

Alex Drake slowly opened her eyes. She looked around the room sleepily and noticed it was in fact still pitch black. Her gaze fell on the digital alarm clock on the other side of the bed. It was 4:30am. Four bloody thirty in the morning! Her head fell back onto her pillow as she groaned- why an earth did her body see fit to wake her up this early? Especially considering she had only fallen asleep two earlier. She smiled gently, not that she minded the reasons behind her late night. She shifted her body closer to the one sleeping next to her and placed her head on his chest. Yes, falling asleep at two in the morning certainly was acceptable after spending the entire evening shagging your boss. She smiled a little wider when she felt Gene's arm pull her slightly closer. Alex definitely appreciated this world a lot more these days.

It wasn't just the sex – of course it did help tremendously- but everything about her relationship with her DCI. It had all started about five months ago. They were having a raging row (as usual) about a suspect. She was desperately trying to get her point across but he was having none of it. In the end he interrupted her tirade of abuse by forcing his lips on to hers. He later claimed it had been the only way, apart from knocking her out, that he could think of shutting her up. The angry kiss had of course led to angry sex in his office. She had been very thankful no one else was in CID at the time. From there the relationship had grown, at the beginning they had both been adamant that it was just sex- but they both secretly knew it was more than that. The fact he always stayed the night was proof enough of that, it definitely was not just the convenience of being closer to work. It had taken their esteemed work colleagues three months to figure out anything was going on. Gene had said it made him worried about the quality of their detectives, considering they had not exactly been subtle on those drunken nights at Luigi's. Alex rationalised that they had always flirted with each other- so the team weren't to know that the dynamic had changed between them. Gene told her they probably should have guessed when she had practically assaulted him in public after he had been held at gun point by a suspect. At work they rarely acted like a couple, and fought just as much as they had done before. If not more. If one of them had been in particular danger it was very difficult to not let the tremendous worry come through, Alex had hoped at first it could be covered by concern for a colleague. Even if she did throw herself into his arms after he had a gun thrust in his face.

When they were alone Gene was very different with her, nothing like she had imagined. He was never like that in front of the team. Something about 'acting like a poof'. They still spent most evenings getting drunk with the team in Luigi's sat at their own table in the corner. Before the team had found about them she had tried to be subtle, but it was very difficult with her wine intake and Gene's 'accidental' touches on her thighs when she was trying to talk to other members of their team. Even after their relationship had been discovered, they did not suddenly start displaying it to everyone else in Luigis, apart from his arm resting along the back of her chair when they sat next to each other- Gene claimed this was because he did not overly like public displays of affection, this did however not stop him from marking his territory every time a new bloke in Luigi's showed some interest in Alex. This usually consisted of pulling her to sit as close as possible to him and kissing her every time the new bloke would look over. He would also sometimes follow her to the bar with his arm anchored around her waist- in case the poor man hadn't already got the message. Most of the time this drove Alex crazy and she got angry at him for his unnecessary over-protectiveness- she was a modern woman from the 21st century after all. She knew how to handle herself. However, sometimes she found it quite endearing. No-one had ever been jealous of other men's interest in her before. Not even her low-life bastard of an ex-husband.

Alex groaned as she realised she was letting her over-active mind wake her up more than she had intended. She buried her face into Gene's neck and inhaled the familiar scent. A few minutes later when Alex was almost asleep again it became very apparent why her body had so kindly woken her up. She barely made it to the bathroom before throwing up.

* * *

Gene woke up to an empty bed. He frowned, that was unusual. Normally she was still in bed when he woke up- even though nine times out of ten she was up first. He looked to the alarm clock- it was 6.30am. It was still quite early considering they didn't start work until nine. He decided it was probably best to find out where she had gone before stealing another hour or so sleep. If he played

his cards right he might even get a quick shag out of the equation. He got out of bed and pulled on his boxers from the night before.

"Bolly?" He called out to the flat. He didn't have to go far before he saw the bathroom door slightly open and the light on inside. "Bolls?" He asked, with a hint of worry in his voice that he would deny if anyone picked him up on it. His worry only increased as a slight smell of vomit reached his nostrils. He pushed the door open to find her leaning back against the wall next to the toilet snoozing, wearing one of his shirts. There was a glass of water set in front of her on the tiled floor. He walked over to her and knelt in front of her. He shook her shoulder gently, which was enough to wake her up. She looked at him through sleepy eyes with an edge of confusion on her face.

"Gene?"

"Any particular reason you were sleeping next to the toilet?" He asked. She rubbed her face with her hand, getting rid of the last dregs of sleep. She thought about being sarcastic, considering she was pretty damn sure she smelt like sick- but couldn't muster the energy to do so.

"I was sick." She muttered. "I just keep being sick every half hour like clock-work. I ended up giving up on getting back into bed." By now he was sat next to her and she was leaning on him with her head on his shoulder. "I've been up since about 4.30." He moved away from her slightly to look at her.

"Why an earth didn't you wake me up you daft bint?" He asked, with a slight hint of anger to his tone. She glared at him.

"Because you Gene Hunt, are notoriously difficult to wake up! Not to mention-" She paused slightly and covered her mouth with her hand. She groaned. "I'm going to be sick." She quickly sat up and put her head over the toilet. Gene briefly grimaced at the smell and sound of her being sick, before kneeling up behind her and rubbing her back gently. When she was done she flushed the toilet and groaned again as she leant back against him.

"Come on Bolls, let's get you back into bed." He stood up pulling her with him- despite her protests- and guided her back into the bedroom. She slumped back onto the bed and pulled the covers over herself. Gene was quite unsure to what an earth he was supposed to be doing. He had never had to look after someone who was ill before. When his ex-wife had been ill, which in itself was very rare, she didn't like him being around at all- so he got away with it. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would have no such luck with Alex Drake. So, he decided to sit next her on the bed and he put his hand on her forehead. "Christ alive Alex- you're burning up!" She opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"I know. I'm cold though." She snuggled closer to him and rested her head on his leg. He stroked her hair briefly before seemingly coming to a decision. He stood up and tried to get her to do the same thing. "What are you doing?" She whined. She didn't whine often- but felt that after throwing up for over two hours was a good enough excuse.

"Takin' you to the Doctors. What do you think I'm doin'?"

"Apart from stopping me from sleeping?"

"You're sick. So I'm taking you to the doctor. Hop to it Bolls." He slapped her on the ass and looked at her expectantly.

"For a start Gene- it has just gone 7am, we would have to go to the hospital and this is hardly A&E worthy. Plus this is just a 24 hour thing." She put her head back on the pillow. "I'll be fine tomorrow."

"How can you be sure?" She groaned at his questioning, why couldn't he just let her rest? She looked up at him. Her irritation faded when she saw the genuine worry, which was very badly hidden, on his face. She smiled at him and slowly sat up.

"Molly had something like it once," she paused and smiled sadly like she did every time she mentioned her daughter. Gene looked awkward like he did every time she mentioned Molly, he never knew how to react. "Not to mention Viv was off work four days ago with the exact same thing. Some people catch it other people don't. I'm one of the unlucky ones." He looked slightly re-assured but not certain. "I'll be fine Gene. I just need to be resting when I don't have my head in the toilet." He grimaced and she smirked, her face fell and she suddenly looked very pale.

"Bathroom?"He got his answer as she ran past him.

* * *

Gene was ready to leave for work at 8.30am. He walked to the bed quietly and sat down next to where she was resting. He shook her shoulder gently and she opened her eyes to look at him.

"I'm off to work Bolls. Call me if you need anything." He leant forward to kiss her forehead, only to find she had moved away.

"Why didn't you wake me up? I need to get ready!"

"For what?" He asked confused.

"Work." She said as if it was obvious. He looked at her like she was crazy. _She really is a bloody fruitcake_.

"You ain't coming to work!" She looked at him outraged. "Alex- you haven't stopped throwin' up since half four this bloody morning. You ain't coming to work." She opened her mouth to argue, he covered it with his hand. "Don't argue with me Drake! You are not fit for duty, can't have you spewing on suspects can we?" She rolled her eyes and he took this as her relenting.

"Fine." She retorted. "But if I manage to go one hour without-" she didn't finish her sentence before pushing him out of the way and running to the bathroom again. He followed her and stood by the door. Once she had finished she flushed the toilet and turned to look at him from her position on the floor. He was leant against the door with his eyebrow raised.

"The chances of that happenin' is lookin' slim isn't it Bolly?" she glared at him.

"Don't you have to go to work?"

* * *

He gently put the key into the lock and turned it as quietly as he could. Gene had missed her that morning at work, and a part of him didn't care how much of a nancy that made him feel. When she wasn't there the time seemed to go slower, and when he was bored he couldn't wind her up. He shook his head at himself, what had this woman done to him? He walked into her flat to find her lying on the sofa with a blanket over her watching TV.

"Daytime television is simply awful." She said as she heard the door close. She looked up at him and smiled slightly, she looked awful. He moved over to the sofa and she sat up slightly, he sat where her head had been lying, she then put her head back on his lap still facing the television.

"How you feeling?"

"Awful. I'm still being sick, just less often now. My whole body is aching." She sighed softly as he rested his hand on her head and started idly playing with her hair. "How was work?" She asked as she brought her hand to his knee and started tracing idle patterns on the material of his trousers.

"Borin'. Just paperwork and more paperwork.

"You missed me then?" She asked teasingly, she shifted her position so she was looking up at him. He noticed how even though her skin was even paler than usual, her tired eyes were still dancing with their usual life.

"Yeah," He smirked, "Ray's arse isn't anywhere near as nice to stare at." She feigned insult and slapped him in the chest.

"What are you doing here anyway?"

"Oh thats nice! Thanks for coming to check I was ok Gene, what a chivalrous man you are!"

"For a start you know what I meant, and I highly doubt crossing the road and walking up some stairs counts as chivalrous!" she sat up so she was sat properly on his lap. His arms fell around her waist and pulled her slightly closer.

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok, that's all." He said slightly defensively. She smiled at him and pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

"That's sweet Gene." Before he could start his usual 'Gene Hunt is not sweet tirade' she interrupted him again. "So where do the others think you are?"She said with her eyebrow raised.

"On a call." He said simply. She laughed at him. "Never breath a word Bolls. I might have to punish you."

"Oh I wouldn't dare!" She smirked. "But I am quite interested in the punishment." She bit her lip.

All things considered, the moment would have been quite sexy if the need to vomit hadn't taken over again.

* * *

When he arrived back from work at the end of the day she was no longer in the lounge. He was about to call for her when he saw her emerge from the bedroom. Her hair was damp and she was wearing a fresh shirt of his, and a pair of his socks.

"Hey." She said softly before moving towards him. She leant up slightly too kiss him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close.

"Feelin' better I take it." She leant her head on his chest and nodded.

"Much better. Haven't been sick since lunchtime." She looked up at him and smiled. "I told you there was nothing to worry about." Instead of replying to her he kissed her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled herself closer to him. When they finished the kiss he rested his forehead against her.

"So Bolls, because you are feeling better-"

"Gene, if you finish that sentence with the words 'fancy a shag' you can sleep on the bloody sofa." She said pulling away slightly, but not completely. She sniggered at the look on his face and kissed his cheek quickly. She then pulled away and moved over to the television. "Shall we watch 'They Died With Their Boots On' again?"

"Bloody cock-tease." He muttered.

"What was that Gene?"

"Nothing Bolly."

* * *

**So, what did you guys think?**

**I really hope you liked it because Ashes to Ashes is my latest obsession.**

**If you guys like it I'll do a sequal where Gene gets sick. I'm sure he would be a joy to try and take care of!**

**Anyway, please please review :)**

**Fifteen Minutes Old**

**x X x**


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